Local Sports Journalist Skinner Dies

Sam Skinner, a longtime Bay Area sports journalist whose numerous friends included Muhammad Ali and Al Davis, died early yesterday from complications of a series of strokes. He was 56.

A fixture at sports press boxes in the Bay Area, he worked as a free-lance radio reporter for the Associated Press, United Press International, Mutual and ABC.

For four decades, he attended nearly every major sports event. He was among the first to report the kidnapping of Israeli athletes and coaches by Palestinian terrorists at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, and he helped break the steroid scandal of Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson at the Seoul Olympics in 1988.

He suffered a major stroke last June while covering a Giants game at Candlestick Park. Though he briefly returned to work later in the summer, he spent most of the past few months in hospitals and convalescent homes.

One of the athletes he was closest to was former A's pitcher Dave Stewart. "I remember as a kid tuning in to 'Big Sam Skinner on your radio dial,' " he said. "When I played sports in high school (in Oakland), he would root me on and give me encouragement. My admiration for him continued as a professional. For what he's done for Bay Area sports and broadcasting, there just aren't words. He was a great friend."

Skinner ended each of his radio shows with the tag line: "And if you can't be a good sport, don't bother to play the game."

Skinner was a go-between for white sportswriters and the black athletes they covered, such as at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City when John Carlos and Tommie Smith gave a black-power salute while accepting track medals. At the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, where Carl Lewis won four gold medals, Skinner was the only reporter with whom Lewis would speak in depth. Instead of hoarding the interviews, Skinner shared them with colleagues.

He broke into journalism as a copy editor at the San Francisco Examiner, later moving to the San Francisco Sun-Reporter, KDIA and KFOG radio and KBHK-TV, where he hosted the weekly interview show "Black Renaissance."

The Warriors created an annual award in honor of Skinner, the Sam Skinner Good Guy Award. Starting this spring they will honor a local sports journalist "who exemplifies Skinner's virtues." In addition, a yet-to-be-determined donation will be made in the recipient's name to the United Negro College Fund.

"Sam was the quintessential good guy," said Warriors vice president Al Attles. "I'll always remember him as being the type of person who genuinely cared about everyone he knew, including athletes, coaches, fans and, of course, his fellow journalists."